Never before has the Bottom 10 in MarketWatch’s study of the Best Cities for Business been so neatly confined to three clearly defined regions of the country. Five inland California communities, three regions around Florida’s Gulf Coast and two parts of Ohio get this dubious distinction for 2011.

Many of the usual suspects are in the bottom ranks of the survey, which annually measures the regions with the highest concentration of business and the strength of their economic output. More often than not, a city will suffer a low ranking in part because of its proximity to a bigger, more alluring metro area. In some cases, though, a city may just be so isolated in a region that receives little attention.

102. Stockton, Calif. 248.5 points: It’s probably not surprising that this city, which has vied with Las Vegas for foreclosure capital of the U.S., ends up at the bottom of the list.

City of Stockton

Stockton, Calif.

Yet it’s simply a symptom of a more general malaise that has hit not only Stockton but three other San Joaquin Valley cities in California on the list: Fresno, Modesto and Sacramento. They, along with the Southern California city of Riverside, comprise five of the six worst cities on the list.

“You are looking at the communities that were hardest hit by the housing slump,” said Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. “They had so much activity that was related to houses and building new houses.”

How they scored
MarketWatch's annual survey covers 102 metro areas. Company score
measures the concentration of businesses within a area according to
several gauges. Economic score looks at unemployment, job growth, population
growth, personal income and local economic output. (A previous version of the company and economic scores column headings in this table were inadvertently reversed. The headings have been corrected.)
Read about the survey's methodology.

Rank

City

Total
Score

ECONOMIC
Score

COMPANY
Score

1

Washington

1339.5

720

619.5

2

Boston

1143.5

574

569.5

3

Des Moines, Iowa

1131

586

545

4

Minneapolis-St. Paul

1119.5

496

623.5

5

Omaha, Neb.

1114.5

535

579.5

6

Oklahoma City

1107.5

653

454.5

7

Salt Lake City

1089

610

479

8

Austin, Texas

1072.5

631

441.5

9

New York

1052.5

509.5

543

10

San Antonio

1042

585.5

456.5

11

Denver

1027

466

561

12

Richmond, Va.

1026

524.5

501.5

13

Dallas

1023.5

510.5

513

14

Houston

1022

562.5

459.5

15

Seattle

1010.5

471

539.5

16

Pittsburgh

1009.5

561.5

448

17

Durham, N.C.

1002.5

654

348.5

18

Harrisburg, Pa.

987

473.5

513.5

19

Baltimore

985.5

593.5

392

20

Nashville, Tenn.

980.5

541

439.5

21

Bridgeport, Conn.

976.5

431.5

545

22

Raleigh, N.C.

971

567

404

23

Philadelphia

965.5

435.5

530

24

Tulsa, Okla.

956.5

512.5

444

25

San Jose, Calif.

953

426

527

26

Charlotte, N.C.

952.5

429.5

523

27

Madison, Wis.

951

598.5

352.5

28

Charleston, S.C.

909

531

378

29

Indianapolis

908

479

429

30

Columbus, Ohio

903.5

449.5

454

31

San Francisco

901

297

604

32

Hartford, Conn.

898

489

409

33

New Orleans

895

500.5

394.5

34

Portland, Maine

890

497

393

35

Honolulu

880.5

595.5

285

36

Kansas City

863

384

479

37

Atlanta

857

339

518

38

San Diego

850

374.5

475.5

39

Milwaukee

845.5

346.5

499

40

Albany, N.Y.

840

570.5

269.5

41

Little Rock, Ark.

837.5

509

328.5

42

Knoxville, Tenn.

833

498

335

43

Jackson, Miss.

824.5

482.5

342

44

St. Louis

824

275

549

45

Memphis, Tenn.

819.5

332.5

487

46

Portland, Ore.

800.5

440

360.5

47

Jacksonville, Fla.

797.5

361.5

436

48

Colorado Springs, Colo.

794

470

324

49

Louisville, Ky.

786.5

407.5

379

50

Virginia Beach, Va.

779.5

463.5

316

51

Chicago

778.5

245.5

533

52

Chattanooga, Tenn.

777.5

400.5

377

53

Boise, Idaho

774

380.5

393.5

54

Rochester, N.Y.

764

513.5

250.5

55

Buffalo, N.Y.

761

463

298

56

Cleveland

738.5

303

435.5

57

Cincinnati

737.5

338.5

399

58

Los Angeles

732

279

453

59

Baton Rouge, La.

728

500

228

60

Phoenix

726.5

364.5

362

61

El Paso, Texas

723.5

496

227.5

62

Syracuse, N.Y.

722.5

494.5

228

63

Greenville, S.C.

710

382

328

64

Albuquerque, N.M.

702.5

514.5

188

65

Provo, Utah

697.5

471

226.5

66

Wichita, Kan.

694.5

339

355.5

67

Ogden, Utah

690.5

481.5

209

68

Augusta, Ga.

683

459.5

223.5

69

Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

678

471

207

70

Birmingham, Ala.

670

320

350

71

Greensboro, N.C.

667

328

339

72

Miami

662

248.5

413.5

73

Orlando, Fla.

638.5

358.5

280

74*

Allentown, Pa.

632

392

240

74*

Providence, R.I.

632

283

349

76

Las Vegas

614.5

212.5

402

77

Lancaster, Pa.

607.5

390

217.5

78

Columbia, S.C.

607

361.5

245.5

79

Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.

603

233

370

80

Akron, Ohio

594

266

328

81

Worcester, Mass.

578.5

409

169.5

82

Palm Bay, Fla.

573

278

295

83

Oxnard, Calif.

568

245.5

322.5

84

Springfield, Mass.

563.5

302.5

261

85

McAllen, Texas

562

494

68

86

Tucson, Ariz.

556.5

382

174.5

87

New Haven, Conn.

555

391

164

88

Scranton, Pa.

531

344

187

89

Detroit

528

105

423

90

Grand Rapids, Mich.

515.5

227

288.5

91

Toledo, Ohio

510

161.5

348.5

92

Bakersfield, Calif.

506

393

113

93

Lakeland, Fla.

480.5

249.5

231

94

Cape Coral, Fla.

470.5

259

211.5

95

North Port, Fla.

439.5

222.5

217

96*

Dayton, Ohio

425

167

258

96*

Modesto, Calif.

425

240

185

98

Youngstown, Ohio

405.5

219.5

186

99

Sacramento, Calif.

364

228

136

100

Fresno, Calif.

350

293

57

101

Riverside, Calif.

344

201

143

102

Stockton, Calif.

248.5

171

77.5

* Tie
(Editor's note: An earlier version of this table mislabeled the economic and
company score headings. The headings have been corrected.)

During the boom, real estate prices jumped from around $100,000 on average to $400,000 in some cases.

“Then all of a sudden, people remembered they were worth only $150,000,” he said.

All the California cities on the list are suffering from high unemployment rates, but Stockton has been hit the hardest. Its jobless rate stood at 15.4% in September, and climbed as high as 18.4% in January.

Last year, Stockton’s unemployment rate averaged 17.3% and has been mired in double digits for every month since July 2008.

101. Riverside, Calif. 344 points: Riverside is California’s only city not in the San Joaquin Valley that made the bottom 10, but it shares many of the same characteristics as its neighbors to the north.

Riverside is close to the Los Angeles region, and thus gets harder hit when the City of Angels suffers during a rough economy. It has been mired in double-digit unemployment since January 2009, hitting a high of 15.1% in July 2010. As of September, the jobless rate was 13.4%.

Riverside also has the distinction of being the largest city in the U.S. without a Fortune 500 or S&P 500 company within its borders. Most tourism is steered either to the west toward Los Angeles, or to the east in the Palm Springs area.

Yet like all California cities, Riverside’s population has skyrocketed over the past decade, much of it due to an overflow of Los Angeles residents moving east. That has made it difficult for the region to adapt to new economic realities.

100. Fresno, Calif. 350 points: Last year’s worst city, Fresno climbed a couple of rungs up the ladder thanks to strides made in personal income. The region was nearly in the upper third of cities in personal income growth during the last year.

Still, Fresno’s location near the foothills of the Sierra Nevada keeps it from making significant strides up in attracting companies. It has no Fortune 500, S&P 500 nor Forbes private firms, and it is the largest city in the U.S. without a Russell 2000 company.

While Stockton currently has the worst jobless rate, Fresno is at the bottom of the barrel for long-term unemployment. It hit 18.6% in February 2010 and has averaged more than 12% over the last two decades.

The future isn’t bright, either. When fortunes rise in Los Angeles, San Francisco or San Diego, Fresno is the only California city in the bottom 10 that won’t feel the halo effect. It’s too far from either L.A. or San Francisco — roughly a four-hour drive from each — to be a viable commuter town for either.

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